I'd like to create a power source that could energize a small LED circuit at a maximum distance of ~3 meters. Even better, build an adaptive control, ensuring additional circuits are adequately powered, but design-limited to a safety max.

My concern is to ensure the power source conforms to applicable United States regulations / codes. I have a background in physics, but no experience in electrical engineering or contracting. So I really don't know where to begin translating theory into device. Can anyone suggest advice / guidance / starting references :

FCC regulations make exceptions for experimental devices, provided they aren't disrupting the function of approved devices.

If you are making a device for everyday use, resonant induction should avoid most legal problems. You are basically constructing an AM transmitter tuned to a specific frequency and matching this with a crystal radio tuned to the same frequency. (Electrical engineers- please correct my layperson's understanding.)

I would start researching the links provided on Wikipedia and examine patents for current devices.

If you're working at low frequencies, are working at short distances (which requires very low power transmitters, btw) and aren't commercializing the end result, I really wouldn't worry too much about FCC regs, especially if you're using single chip transceiver solutions. Most of the commercial traffic is way above the "citizen's" band, and the FCC's men-in-black won't be showing up at your door any time soon...Now if you start interferring with your local Police bands using a proprietary design that you've created yourself, that state of being might change pretty quickly...

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Bio:CrLz : Ideas, ideas and ideas - Love it when I get one hammered out and working. Seems like there is plenty of room for creativity, in between cheap goods and expensive solutions, and beyond those ...read more »